Shades of Cool
by darkplum-pen
Summary: After spending a debilitating amount of time in the hospital morgue, Tsunade springs a sudden mission on Sakura that will both unite her again with her slightly estranged teacher Kakashi Hatake, but also link together the odd events taking place in Konoha involving the bodies she had been working with.
1. Morgue

**Shades of Cool**

**"Morgue"**

Sakura put her hands down onto the table; her gloves stuck to the cold surface as she tapped her fingers to the beat of the song playing from an office across the hall. The morgue was an uncommonly quiet place and so the usually annoying shoujo anime openings were rather pleasant from the unseen radio as she looked down into the chest cavity of the woman from room 103; an oddity to see and feels something so cold while her own was functioning.

Sakura rolled her eyes at herself as her thumb pinched a small hole in the woman's lung, "shit."

The part she disliked the most about working in the morgue was the moment before deciding if she needed to open the person up- if their death was suspicious, or straight forward. Then of course if she did, she'd have to put them all back- the organs. Honestly Sakura didn't know why people didn't sign themselves up for being a donor, or why families even wanted to bury their loved one with everything intact. Sakura knew what happened to bodies that were buried: nothing. They bodies took up space in the earth that people didn't even have the decency to think about, purely because they wanted to stand above something, not just see a grave.

The music suddenly stopped; Sakura's hands froze as she placed the last organ into the body, enclosed in a bag to prevent leakage. She then removed her hands and gazed down, like an artist looking curiously at their canvas: would she find herself on a table like this? No, of course not- she wouldn't be there, but would she die of mysterious causes?

The doors behind her swung open as a doctor rushed in with three interns behind him, "This is Dr. Haruno."

She nodded at them.

"It smells in here," one of the interns muttered.

"I stopped noticing," Sakura remarked, rolling her gloves into themselves as she peeled them off her hands. "It's not a bad smell, you know?"

She found herself wondering into the hallway swinging her hands around in the pockets of her lab coat. She felt at loss to be free of something she didn't particularly like or hate; she hadn't thought about what she would rather be doing, or what she would do when she left.

Behind her, a gust of air came as the door opened once again by one of the interns. After breathing in the normal air, what escaped to her from the morgue came as a shock, _I suppose it does smell._

"Dr. Haruno, Lady Tsunade would like to see you."

Sakura looked discontentedly at the intern for a moment, "Take a a look at the lining of her stomach."

Like all interns that were brought to the morgue, making them vomit wasn't a difficult task. Was the lining of the womans stomach nearly nonexistent? Yes. However, it was not the cause of her death and therefore only an irrelevant detail that could be taken advantage of. Doing so, Sakura felt like a bully, but it was to the best of her knowledge that everyone got sick in the morgue one way or the other- for her it was draining the body of its blood. if she coul get them to throw up today, they wouldn't do it again-unless something worse rolled in.

Sakura began towards the east stairway, hoping Tsunade hadn't given herself anther heart attack or something. She probably would have received the message sooner if she hadn't left so suddenly, but of course that would have been too convenient for everyone. She didn't like being around the interns half as much as she liked to cut open bodies- and that wasn't saying a lot. They were so young, perhaps fourteen or fifteen, and she felt like they were watching her with their beady little eyes constantly when they were around. She could appreciate that they wanted to learn, and she definitely knew that she was like them at some time, but they always stood too close, or spoke too often, or said things like, "it smells in here."

"Of course it smells," She said beneath her breath, trotting up the stairs under the florescent lighting. "It's a damn hospital."

When she escaped from the stairs and arrived at the correct floor, it was almost as shocking as the difference between smells; the same florescent lighting from the lower floors looked less blue. However something odd occurred to her: there were interns everywhere-like an infestation of rodents or insects. She stuck to the wall and made a straight path to where he knew Tsunade would be, _what's happening._

"Oi!"

"Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura!"

She lifted her head and looked behind her, "What's happening, Ino?"

Ino smiled and danced across the hallway, "it was Tsunades idea!"

"I don't understand."

"Are you on your way to see her?" Ino asked.

"I was but I don't-"

"You've got a spot of fluid on your collar," Ino said suddenly.

Sakura irritably tried to fold the fabric back, "I-I don't have to train anyone, right?"

Ino laughed, "No! Tsunade is making that optional."

Sakura raised ehr eyebrows, "I guess I was worried for nothing, but I still need to talk to her."

Ino shrugged, "I'll see you around."

Sakura nodded at her plucky friend and continued down the wall, almost certain that Tsunade would throw ten interns at her face as soon as she arrived, however, she had details about her mission-

"Tsunade-sama," She hummed, pushing open the almost-closed door with her foot. "I need to look at the details of my mission-"

"About that," Tsunade said, ceasing whatever she was writing and slapping her pen against the table.

Sakura closed the door and took a seat in the chair opposite the intimidating blonde.

"New assignment."

Sakura took a breath, "How so?"

"You're awfully enthusiastic," Tsunade remarked.

"N-No it;s just that I just gt back from the morgue and-"

"Forget that, the mission I have for you is nothing like you original," Tsunade said, smiling at the corner of her mouth. "After your shift here ends, I want you to come by my office at the main building so we can discuss it."

Sakura was skeptical about why her superior was smiling at her the way she was.

"This office is beginning to look ragged again," Sakura noted.

"I'll just tell one of the interns to tidy up," Tsunade scoffed.

"Sounds like they're here for free labor," Sakura chuckled. "I shouldn't be hypocritical though because I made fun of a few interns after I gave an autopsy on that woman."

"Which woman?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura crossed her leg over the other, "room 103."

Tsunade looked upset but it was the same upset face all the nurses or medical ninja had when someone died at the hospital; it was a look that said, I assumed they'd live longer. The employees at the hospital, Sakura and Tsunade included, were not shy or curious about death- it happened everyday.

"Sad to see a girl die like that," Tsunade said lightly.

Sakura agreed silently.

"You're off right about now, aren't you?" Tsunade asked.

"Half an hour," Sakura corrected. "I have to make sure 103 wasn't left out on the table, anyway."

"That's the last thing we need to get out to the parents."

"Hmm?"

Tsunade began to write again, "Oh, just that we leave bodies out in the morgue for anyone to see."

Sakura tried not to laugh, not completely sure why she found humour.

"I'll let you get ging then," Tsunade said, not looking up.

Sakura scooted from the chair, which screeched across the floor, "I'll see you later."

Sakura departed from the room and like exiting the morgue, she now stood in the hallway with no direction. She felt herself being pulled towards the stairs; back to the morgue to check what she needed to check-but she also had a sensation of being rooted where she was standing. her mind was winding itself up, morgue, morgue, morgue-stay!

She let out an exasperated breath and look up; the grey wall of the hospital was looking back at her silently and like a fool she thought it would give her a task.

"Morgue."

Her feet began to walk her across the floor; her knees started her at a trot; her legs pushed her into a run. She leaned into the bar to open the door, and was back inside the atmosphere of blue light; it was like being underwater. The uncertain heaviness of being in an atmosphere so cold and empty as familiar to her senses ad perhaps even calming. She wasn't sure why, but lately she hadn't enjoyed being above floors with the patients and their adoring families.

"Dr. Haruno!"

She stopped mid step and found herself face to face with an intern.

"We-we don't know what to do with the body."

Sakura blinked, "You were down here with a doctor, weren't you?"

He nodded.

"Well, where is he?" she asked, making short work of the space between her and the morgue entrance. "He can't just leave you people alone with patients."

The other intern was standing at the other side of the woman on the table, looking thoroughly disgusted with the sight. Sakura wondered what circumstances would have ended up leaving two kids with a dead body, they're probably mortified.

"H-He got a sudden call and said he'd be back, but he..."

"I've had it with this shit," She muttered, rolling the woman across the floor, causing the interns to rush out-of-the-way. She opened the hatch and gently pushed the tray, and the woman on it, into into the cooler.

She turned to look at them, "do you remember how to get back up?"

As soon as they left she felt the weight of herself sink into her shoes. The consistent aching in her heels by the end of her shift-the pain in her shoulders, it was all becoming daily. Since when?

_You shouldn't be thinking about this._

_I drew my eyebrows together and bit my lower lip, You-You know, you're right. No one should have to think about what happened to these people to get them where they are now, but it's my job to._

_Sakura, it's not normal to be so wrapped up in this, Naruto murmured. His hand tried to hold mine from across the table but I quickly withdrew; the sky behind him was filled with smoke-ash fell around us like snow._

_You want me to let that woman be buried without knowing her story? I hissed. For the sake of my mind, you think I should take a break?_

_Naruto leaned back in his chair, isn't that what everyone else does?_

_You have no idea what you;re talking about, I said, violently pushing my chair back and standing. You have never needed to do what we do at the hospital, and now you look at me from the outside and try to tell me what is best for myself and for these people?_

_Calm down Sakur-_

"Are you done in here?"

The lingering male voice moved through her conscience until she pieced the words together; she was leaning against a wall and her face was resting against her knees.

"Dr. Haruno?"

"D-Down here," she said said, catching her breath. She took hold of the counter top behind her and pulled herself to her feet.

"I didn't know it was possible for anyone to fall asleep in here," the male nurse said, surprised.

Sakura blinked and adjusted her eyes to the lighting, "What time is it?"

"Well, my shift ends at 1 and I'm doing my last rounds-"

"Could you get someone to clean up down here?" She asked. "I-I think I have everything put away but if because-I've got to be somewhere and I'm not there."

"No problem," the nurse chimed. "It's my job, right?"

Sakura smiled weakly, "Thank you."

She had been asleep for a few hours; a few hours ago Tsunade and been expecting her for a meeting. Sakura was almost disappointed that the nurse had found her during his shift, because now she had to walk to the center of town, regardless if Tsunade was still there or not-if she had slept until morning, she could have apologized and yet not put herself through the task of early morning exercise in cold winter air.

_This tiresome day._

After successfully clocking out and pulling on her coat, insulated with fur (fake, mind you), she was at the top of the outdoor staircase. It was colder than before and to her dismay she found herself nearly crawling down the steps leading down to the street due to black ice that had somehow settled-how embarrassing would it be to slip and harm herself, as a doctor, right outside of a hospital? Well, perhaps not so much, but she had long since concluded that every human being had a fear of slippery steps.

"Three, two," she counted the very last step, "one."

She let out a breath.

_Mission accomplished. Can I go home now?_

She continued down the street with her hands sitting comfortably in the dark burgundy pockets of her coat, wishing her feet felt the same in her open toe sandals-what a joke to wear those shoes in the current weather. In her defense, it had been considerably warmer when she had arrived at work that afternoon versus the current 2 AM conditions.

There were so few voices that the ones that were there, seemed almost on a loud-speaker: a man speaking about business in an entertainment house with four or five other men-and then a woman, not but a few houses down the street, telling her boyfriend about her pregnancy. Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to hear more, but it was nearly impossible. _These people who talk so early in the morning, I wonder how much their neighbors have heard._

Sakura found herself in a familiar part of town as the voices died off; the main street that extended from the Hokage's main office, all the way to the other side of town. She walked down this road every day and it wasn't long until she had a clear view of the top windows of Tsunade's office: nothing. She stared for a moment, then turned on her heel. As she walked back she glanced to a dark window and was surprised to see in the reflexion that the lights in the office had suddenly flashed on. She faced the office once more and saw a silhouette behind the thin curtain that covered the window. She was motionless. _Am I hallucinating._

Her feet dragged her on down the street until she was grasping the handle of the door and pushing it open, awaiting a gust of warm hair to welcome her-it did. The halls of the building were nearly pitch black besides one ceiling light that was left on a few feet from the elevator. It shook her up a bit walking through the dark portions of the hallway, and gave her a fight-or-flight feelings as she waited for the elevator doors t let her in once she had pressed the button. The doors opened; she rushed in then pressed the correct floor. It always felt s different being in places after hours, or in general when no one else was there. Tsunade was, of course, but it wasn't as if it was a normal occurence.

"I'll go home after this and sleep," She murmured, relinquishing the coat from herself. She came to the office door and peered a the handle, grasping it, twisting it. "Tsunade-sama~"

As she entered the room she was taken back to find no one occupying the space besides herself.

"Shizune?"

"Ponpon?"

The office was empty and more so, the lights were off.

**Sakura listened as her tea pot screamed**, dashing mascara across her eyelashes as she stared at herself in her bathroom mirror. She noticed a dry spot on her nose; a sign of winter. She uneasily tried to peel the random flake of skin, the one that looked like it was half-off anyway. The pot from down the hall was still screaming.

_4 am._

She could have fooled herself into thinking that, as a medical professional, she would be attending major surgery on a patient who, of course, was a hero-but such a tale, no-such a false believe did not happen in a life like hers. She knew for a fact that she would be in the morgue working with patients who had either lost a battle or were attacked by it; whether they had the wish to live was irrelevant. This was the life of working days on end in room of dead bodies.

_Needless to say, not very much conversation to be had._

She flicked the light off and adjusted her skirt as she walked down the short hallway to her kitchen, wearing one stocking, the other rolled up in her hand; dark grey stockings that somehow looked nice with the shade of pink she wore, and an unforgettably a gift from Ino;_ she has good sense of fashion. _Perhaps that was one thing Sakura could extract enjoyment from with winter weather and the days in the chilling morgue: wearing tall socks. They were all the rage, not as if her skirts were short enough to really show them off-

"I've got nice legs. I work out."

She would need to be back at the hospital by 4:30, half an hour, and so she knew that sleeping would be a wasted effort. Thought, she made the correct choice to put a fresh pair of clothes on as she waited for her alarm to go off only of course she would be awake for it.

Sakura poured the liquid into her cup and set the kettle back onto the stove, turning the burner off. From a tin sitting close to the wall on her counter, she removed the rectangular lid and took out two small cookies-_shaped like lions, I think. _After doing enough missions in different places she found herself drinking many kinds of tea and now eating cookies or crackers with it; her mother told her that it was unhealthy to eat so many cookies but Sakura was at the age of a fast metabolism, and she was going to take advantage of it while she still could.

She collapsed into her only sitting chair, _damn this tiny apartment, _and crunched the second cookie while washing it down with a gulp of tea; she had a thing for vanilla cookies. She looked aimlessly around, not sure what to do now that she was fully awake- she couldn't watch television at this hour because her neighbors would kick her door down in fury due to the thin walls. Her tea had diminished while she felt her mind circling the drain in search of an activity that would take about thirty minutes to complete.

_I could..._She snorted, _oh wait, thin walls. _

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello! I tried my best to clean everything up but I apologize for any misspellings or grammatical errors that were missed. I'm a slow writer so I'm not sure when this will be updated, but if you like the story, keep an eye out for it!<em>**

**_9/5/14_**


	2. Winter

**Shades of Cool**

**"Winter"**

She watched her breath circle her face as she crinkled her nose; she was beginning to chap as she hustled through the thin alleyway that let from the back door of her apartment building. She had left the house that morning rather disheveled, her face still wet from hastily splashing herself with water-she had accidentally fallen asleep. But town was quiet at the hour, no real obstacle with be in her path to arrive at work, there was no reason to be as worried as she felt in her stomach. Perhaps it was the pressing curiosity of the details of her new mission-or that she appeared to be hallucinating, alluding to bad health or mental illness. After all, Sakura was a doctor, she needed concrete answers to all her questions.

Not but a week earlier, Tsunade had informed Sakura that she would be investing at least a month at a small fishing village to treat a small case of illness. An illness that had not even been specified yet, of course, because before having time to look at the mission file in its entirety, Tsunade had then dragged her out to something else. The worry in this was obvious: _an illness striking a village is a serious way; what could be more serious than that?_ Sakura didn't like to play a weak victim, but she was a woman of few talents in many things, everyone knew it. Of her skill range, she was proficient in tactics involving intelligence, intuition, and defiantly, medical ninjutsu. She had strength to crush earth, but she never disciplined herself in that and the last few times she had been in that place, she had needed a team by her side. Alone on a battlefield was not the place she had chosen, but rather closely inspecting the small details out of view. She could not help this, but it wasn't the first time her Sannin leader had forgotten this about Sakura.

She dug her feet into the earth, stopped at the opening of the alley.

_Is it childish to play-sick at my age ?_

Sakura whistled a horrible tune and echoed lyrics in a mumbling voice, "In the far distance is our future.." Continuing on towards the hospital and shivering the entire way. She could see it slowly appearing through the fog like an insane asylum in a horror film. It didn't look inviting, it didn't feel inviting. _I just want to go home and sleep._

As she forced herself up the few steps and coaxed her legs into the building, her nose was greeted with the usual hospital smell. It was a smell she always got used to but it was a smell that could be nothing else but sickness, medicine, and ..._bleach. _For people who never spent particularly long spans of time inside a hospital, the smell was overwhelming and disheartening, but there was only a general thesis of the smell: despite illness, everything was sterilized. Patients vomiting fluids not only from the stomach, on a regular basis- the extent of which to clean _everything. _Was the morgue better or worse than the rest of the building? Sakura had a hard time deciding.

"Where might I find Tsunade?" Sakura said, tapping the arm of a fellow employee; a woman perhaps in her late 40's that went by the name "Pepper" and resembled Shizune with her hairstyle.

"Tsuande was last seen on the third floor," Pepper said, a thick smokers voice.

"Thank you."

Sakura had never tried cigarettes.

She wondered if being seen with a cigarette would make her more attractive.

She entered and exited the elevator, suddenly on the third floor- her day was flying over head. Her regular daily tasks were so forgetful and happening around her.

"Sakura?"

"O-Oh, Tsuande."

"What do you need, Sakura?"

Sakura was in the doorway of Tsunade's office.

"Saku-"

"I-I came by to see you last night even though.." Sakura smiled, "I fell asleep in the morgue."

"The morgue?" Tsunade sounded genuinely concerned.

"Luckily I was woken up," Sakura hummed, "not in time, though."

"It's alright," Tsunade said. "I went home early but I left a message on my door for you, I assume you didn't get it."

"No."

"Well, I might tell you," Tsunade groaned, "You really need to read your misson file because I might need to send you earlier."

"Where am I-"

"Here," Tsuande said, withdrawing the manila envelope from a drawer in her desk. "Try to please get back to me today before your shift ends so I can know whether or not I will need to find someone else to do it."

"I will-"

"I would really like if it was you, though, because if it isn't I'll need to send another medic ninja," Tsuande said bitterly, "we don't have mnay would I nesessarily have confidence in."

"Ino and Shizune wouldn't be happy to hear that."

"Well it's not really just talent..." Tsuande trailed off, thinking. "Kakashi is accompanying the mission and I don't know who would work well with him."

"It may not be me," Sakura said, her stomach doing a small flip with the foreseen struggles of being around someone she felt incredible distance from. "I don't know the last time I've seen him, honestly, it's been a few months."

"He was confident in suggesting you for the part, so it must not as awkward as you make it sound."

Sakura flushed, _I didn't realize I sounded so stressed; I thought I had hid it._

"Look, Sakura,"Tsunade trailed off.

"Hm?"

"Just read over the file and let me know if you'll do it-perhaps contact Kakashi and arrange your living situation."

"How long is this mission?" Sakura asked.

"At least a month," Tsunade said, "or longer."

Sakura nodded.

_I'm suddenly 12 receiving my very first mission._

"You can take the rest of the day off to pack your things and settle any details," Tsunade said in an authoritative tone.

Sakura's fingers pressed into the folder as she took it from Tsuandes hands; a light above them flickered.

The paper slid out of the folder easily as she collapsed into one of the open chairs along the hallway; the blinds to the rooms were all closed.

[MISSION FILE NO.1298KL

NAME: Haruno, Sakura

LOCATION: Land of Waves

DATE: unspecified

DESCRIPTION: unspecified.]

Sakura was briefly embarrassed by the lack of care and detail that went into some of the files at Konoha's main office; despite this, she was interested to see the name beside 'location'. Granted the last time she had been there they had witnessed things that were hard to wash out of her young mind at the age she had seen them-was it excitement welling up in her chest? _or am I having a heart attack?_

She closed the folder and allowed a smile onto her face as she realized that given the chance of completing the missions sooner, she would have time to spend in a hotel- laying in bed, _eating the small gift-size food from the mini fridge. _Of course, granted, Kakashi would be there with her; she wouldn't be there by herself to lounge around, and he would want to return home as soon as possible, _he was always like that, I doubt he's changed. _

"What's his address, again?" She asked the air, trying to draw out the street name from her thoughts. She hadn't exaggerated the few months prior the last time she had seen him, and it certainly wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she hadn't even been to his apartment for several years. There had been no reason at all to knock on his door all the years she had been his student, mainly because the team never met at his house for anything because he always had orchestrated when and where the team would meet down to the precise minute. The only few times she had ever gone to see him had been at his old apartment, and the only time she had been to his new one was when Naruto took her there.

"It's #4b," She remember to herself, "Down the street from Naruto's favorite ramen shop."

She recalled the shrubbery by the door, the flowers, and the building being slightly smaller than the others surrounding. _Was it grey, as well?_

She folded the envelope in half and tucked it into the large pocket inside her jacket; she zipped herself up and felt the paper crunch against her side.

**It was 3:30. **

Sakura knocked against the door, hoping it was her teachers.

_Partner?_

There was no response. Not even a stir.

She tried again and with no reaction, she lightly settled her hand around the doorknob and twisted, not expecting it to continue the motion. As she remained with the knob fully turned she only looked down at her hand in disbelief, and confusion on if she should go inside or close the door and pretend it had been locked. By her hand traveling up her sleeve, she could feel heat warming her skin. Inch by inch the door opened a little more, _just a little more, _taking away the cold from her. When the door had been opened completely, she was stunned by the darkness before her-in fact, it was as if the windows had been taped with newspapers to keep the light out.

Her hand flew to the wall, looking to find the nearest light switch.

"K-Kakashi?"

The room smelled heavily of him-not negatively.

She was reluctant to step forward, ashamed that she had basically broken into his home, an invasion of personal privacy.

A groan from across the room tripped her; she hissed as she lost her balance in the shadows around her feet. Her hand however bumped over something on the wall on her way down, a switch, a lever, _artificial sunlight. _Still on the floor, she reached her hand up the wall and flicked on the light in the short hallway, and she scrambled to her feet.

"W-Whaaa."

_Yawning._

A shape suddenly angled itself up, "Who's that?"

"I-it's me, Kakashi," Sakura said, walking around the wall. "I-I came to talk about our mission. I didn't mean to just let myself in but, I-"

There was a pause in her breathing.

He got to his feet, wearing all blue clothing, "Yeah."

"S-So should we meet at the front gates tomorrow?"

"Morning," He finished. "In the morning at 4 am."

Sakura nodded, "Um-"

"Do you want a cup of tea?"

She watched him walk around her, the light in the kitchen coming on, and then him lazily leaning into his refrigerator looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"I have a box on the bottom shelf behind me if you want to choose what kind."

"Sure," She said shortly, closing his door.

"Don't worry about taking your shoes off," He said, "It's cold in here."

"Not in the slightest!" Sakura said, realizing that there were obvious smudges on the floor of dirt; it was kind of gross. Sakura kneeled by the shelves and slid the aluminum box over her knees. She dashed her fingers through the small squares, "These are all foreign brands."

"Oh, I forgot."

"This looks good," She said until seeing the photograph on the label.

"-I hate chamomile-"

"-I hate chamomile-"

She looked behind her as his voice lingered on the last word, "You, too?"

"It's the only kind my father drank. It drove me crazy, the smell, the flavor."

Sakura looked back to the box, "Which do you usually drink?"

"That one," He pointed, "The blue."

"What is it?"

"Not sure."

Sakura shrugged and returned the box to its place; she scooted around Kakashi with two_ blue_ packages of tea.

"Is blue your favorite color?" She asked, filling the silent void with a cliché conversation starter.

"No."

The water in the pot began to make noise.

"You seem to have a lot of blue around your house," She noted, looking at his dish towel, rug, couch, and curtains-in an orderly fashion so that he could watch her search them out.

"Well, I suppose I like the color."

"But, it's not your favorite?"

He shook his head.

Sakura dropped the tea into the pot just as it reached it's boiling point.

"So, who gave you the tea?" She asked.

"They were a gift from a woman."

Sakura raised her eyebrows, "I didn't know you were dating-"

"The landlady from an apartment I had stayed at during a mission," He said, "I couldn't understand her, but she handed me this box before I left."

"I see."

Sakura pulled the pot off the stove.

"What's yours?"

"My what?" Sakura said.

"Color."

Sakura shrugged and poured the tea into two cups-Kakashi had somehow sneaked it onto the counter when she wasn't paying attention, but she didn't bother asking him how or when, and just added it to the water.

"We need to discuss the details of the mission, though," Sakura murmured. "We're going to be away for a while, so everything needs to be understood."

"Of course," He agreed.

"So, do we have a place to stay?" She asked.

"I have an apartment there."

"S-Since when?" She said, surprised. "How long?"

His expression was almost whimsical, "It was my mother's, sister's."

Sakura cleared her throat, "I see."

"is that alright?" He asked, "Because we can always get you somewhere else to stay."

"That's another thing," She said slowly. "A while ago Shizune was talking about some of her previous missions and told me that it isn't uncommon to r_eally _create a story of who you are, and where you're from, and who you're with-"

"I know," He chuckled. "You and I are newly weds, and it's our first home together."

Sakura raised her eyebrows, "I never knew I'd be married so young."

"It's the basic outline when two ninja work together who are of different sex," He said. "Shizune and I were married once; she even pretended to be pregnant to convince our neighbors."

"Tough," Sakura hummed.

"You'll get used to it," He said, swiftly taking his cup from the counter. "If you were a man, or if I were a woman, we'd be siblings or roommates."

"Why not gay lovers?" Sakura asked with an uncomfortable laugh following.

He tipped his head to the side, "Do you read yaoi?"

Sakura shook her head.

"Okay, just checking."

She rotated the cup in her hands and smiled lightly, "Aside from looking for a murderer, this should be fun."

"_Fun_? I suppose, yes, it could be," He said. "We can leave ramen cups all over the place and pretend Naruto is with us."

Sakura brought the cup to her lips and inhaled the steam; she glanced to him.

"it's getting late: you should head home and get a few hours of sleep," He suggested.

she swallowed the liquid and spoke with a clear voice, "Wise advice as always from the silver flashes' son."

"Please don't call me that," He laughed, taking the cup from her as she set it in his open hand.


	3. Elitist

**Shades of Cool**

**"Elitist"**

_*So they graced us with putting on a show when they killed their classmates. That's what it's about, right; putting on a show. You can always make yourself anonymous or you can appear-cameo and let everyone see you in the light. Media snakes in, we all say how sorry we are and talk about our wounds from an event that more or less had nothing to do with us, and whoops-we forget, which school are we talking about ? But who are we kidding? You shoot blindly and regardless of who you hit, you're probably going to get the person who was responsible; whether they were holding the weapon or just in the audience watching. We all have responsibility as the bully, the bystander, or the antagonist. And we are fully aware of these character tropes. People know what the purpose of a bully is-make others feel bad. People know what the purpose of a bystander is-let others feel bad so you don't need to deal with retaliation. People know what the purpose of the antagonist is-to be seen as the main source of negativity in a story. A victim of course doesn't exist because we're taught that it's the role we get to choose for ourselves, and no one wants to be that. You can only ever make people feel bad, do nothing, or put yourself in the spotlight (regardless if you are truly an antagonist, or if you become that way out of the distaste of others).*_

Sakura flipped the page of her book and felt exasperated: this writer was clearly a pessimist, but there was undoubtedly some truth to what was published. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the writing made her feel nervous to read-almost anxious, but it was certainly an eye opener.

"What's that?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura met the covers.

"It's not porn, is it?"

Sakura snorted, "It's not."

They both dunked under a branch; they stayed on the path.

"Action?"

Sakura shook her head.

"You know, Sakura," He began, "If you're going to make this a secret, I have no choice but to think you are in fact an avid reader of yaoi."

"Are _you _and avid reader of yaoi?" She laughed, pulling her back pack down over her shoulder to tuck the book into a pouch.

"Yuri," he sang, "the purest of all the gods' work."

"That's not something I wanted to hear," she muttered.

"I'm joking," He said.

"You obviously only read pure romance for age 13 and up," She said. "Nothing rated NC-17 in those books."

"Never," He agreed. "I won't have it in my literature."

"So, there would be no opposition if I wanted to read each book you brought in that bag of yours?" She asked.

"That would be completely up to you," He said, "although, I'm more curious to know what you like to read."

Sakura groaned, "Okay."

"And?"

She took the book back and tossed it to him, "It's a narrative about the human race."

"Never thought you were the type," he said.

"Kakashi, I wasn't."

"Until?"

"Until my pessimist was de-flowered in the morgue," She said. "I still _like _those romances, but _this_-"

"It's good, Sakura," He said. "_We don't have a purpose in life until we feel the need to create one, but that only breeds vital questions that we ultimately are not willing to answer because it implies that we care about the life of another person." _

"This isn't story-time," Sakura said, snatching the book from his hands.

"It's deep," he said sternly. "Very deep."

"That's me: elitist and smart."

"True, partly not."

"You don't think I'm smart?" She hissed. "I swear to the god's, Kakashi."

"No, the elitist."

"What about it?"

"You're not an elitist," He said. "Impossible."

She shrugged and pulled her scarf up around her neck to evade snow falling from the tree branches

"Alright, well this conversation is circling the drain," he chuckled. "Shall we talk about the mission?"

"I don't see why not."

"Ten people are missing; seventeen bodies have been recovered."

Sakura raised her eyebrows, "Scary shit."

"Quite."

"I was reading the files and apparently they have a few of the bodies still; the bodes that weren't too heavily in decomp?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Spooky," She said. "As soon as we get there, we'll need to look at them."

"_You _can look at them, I think you mean," He corrected.

"I'm not going anywhere alone," Sakura said.

"You're a top-notch ninja, Sakura-chan," he said. "You don't need an escort."

"Are you kidding me?" She snorted. "People are being kidnapped left and right."

"Pedestrians," He pointed out.

"Which, is what we'll be," She said. "I could be a target."

"So could I," He said, "And you could take these people out."

"right out to the cleaners?" She laughed.

"Exactly, true."

"Well, no one knows anything about these kidnappers so how do we know we're not talking about some lost sannin?"

They both stopped.

"I sense a hot spring," Kakashi murmured.

"Lunatic."

"No, really," he said. "We're by our city stop."

"Can't we just keep going to our destination?" Sakura asked.

"We're been walking all day," He said, "and I'm an old man."

"I see."

"It's important for an old-timer to rest his aching feet," He cried.

"I suppose I won't complain," Sakura said.

They continued to walk.

This old-timer act was one Kakashi had been pulling ever since he was in his late twenties. On their very first out-of-town mission he ended their traveling in the name of being "old and decrepit" and they ended up spending two and a half days at a hot spring where they barely saw him and heard rumors of a drunk silver-haired man passing out in the water-actually, Naruto had told her that, and she had yet to find out if it was actually true. After all, Kakashi didn't seem like he drank a lot. _Be that as it may, there's no chance I'll let him nail us down at a nice hotel before we can start this mission._

"I won't let us stay here more than a day," Sakura said, putting it as blatant as she could.

"Laying it flat, are you?" He laughed.

"I am," She confirmed. "No more lazing it about: I want to clear this, and then we can do whatever you want."

"Deal."

The forest slowly became less dense and in a few moments of jumping over bushes and fallen trees, they were already skipping down main street-_Sakura _skipped. The city was a town, and the town appeared like half its residents had left for the winter; they were the only people on the street and their footprints were the only ones breaking the white blanket.

"Strange," Sakura said.

"Strange, indeed."

"The hot spring looks alive, though," Sakura said, pointing ahead.

"That it does," Kakashi sang.

"I have a question for you," Sakura slipped in.

"Hm?"

"A while ago when I was, like, twelve, Naruto told me you got drunk at one of the hot springs."

"That's a rumor," He said, "don't believe a word of that because that was in fact Jiraiya, not me."

"I see."

"Good to know, you know."

"So I assume the rumor of yo sleeping with prostitutes was-"

"Jiraiya."

"He didn't waste time, did he?"

"Life is strange that way," Kakashi said, holding the door open for Sakura as they hurried into the steaming building.

"How?"

"Sleeping with prostitutes is a frightening concept, but all men have at least a pinch of interest; Jiraiya lived that dream."

"What a beautiful memoir."

"I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable," Kakashi chuckled, "Just trying to let us get to know each other."

"I appreciate that."

"Do you?"

Sakura scratched the back of her neck, "It's, uh, it's an interesting side of you."

"So I've been told," He said.

"You were never much of a talkative person when we spent a lot of time together," Sakura noted.

"I never get along very good with children, he confessed. "They scare me."

"Really" Sakura smiled. "How delightful."

"It's a unique weakness, I admit."

They dropped their bags onto the counter and signed their names onto the long-in sheet. Sakura took a seat in a chair nearest to the door while Kakashi waited for a manager, an employee-someone.

_*I've felt much too uninspired, and though the obvious answer would be to get out and see new sights I always find my best inspiration comes early in the morning. Contrarily, I seem to reach creative heights when I'm living from whole wheat cereal, and listening to the same music artists over and over again. Some people would call it insanity- after all, I am using complete isolation to imagine new worlds, new people- but I'd like to call myself a "visionary". A mad rat, after eating a cat- it could happen, couldn't it?_

_My newest story began with recycled characters, but I have noticed them slowly become something completely different. That must sound terribly funny- as if they were real. I'm starting to get the feeling that the two main characters are about to murder each other- I had originally intended to have them fall in love- I guess you can't rush things without it turning sour. This is about, seeing as this was supposed to be a gift to a friend of mine who has begged me since the beginning of the year to write her a romance- I wonder if she'll be upset if I hand in a blood-bath? I mean, if you think about it; what's the difference between a steamy sex scene and a ferocious murder? - okay, a lot.*_

"You're not reading over there, are you" Kakashi asked.

Sakura flipped the page.

_*Gently rehashing everything you've ever done, but pulling out a new title and claiming it to have a controversial metaphor behind all the 'twists and turns'. __Sing a successful song from the past and the only creativity you are capable of doing is using a cheap dub-step background, and distorting the lyrics- where you only sing a few and use the original track for the greatest. __Profanity is all I want to hear. Are we, as humans, even able to make something without the influence other people and correlating events have had on us? Am I just a product of how I've been treated?*_

"If you're not careful, you'll turn yourself into a realist," Kakashi warned.

"That's not a result I'd entirely dislike," Sakura responded.

Kakashi returned to her with their room key, "Are you willing to take our stuff? I'm thinking about going straight to the water."

"Old men need their rest," Sakura said.

"That's the truth."

She took his bag, put the key in her pocket and marched away towards the small set of wooden stairs; the building was like a log cabin, less like the usual set-up of traditional hot spring buildings. She wasn't opposed to it, but t was certainly dark. _Very dark._

"I could use a coffee right about now," She said to herself as she fit the key into the door.

The room was dark, too.

_He sure knows how to pick the right places to stay at; I feel like we're going to get chopped up by hatchet-man. _Granted, if anyone else had chosen somewhere to stay, she would have felt like they were just as likely to get murdered.

"Well, what do you know," She hummed, taking a small menu off the nightstand; the first on the list was coffee.

"What's that?"

Sakura jumped.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

"Five minutes isn't a very long visit to the spring," She snapped.

"I changed my mind mid shoe."

She tossed his bag at him, "we're not unpacking."


End file.
